Monday, December 24, 2012

the day before Christmasall in a scurrystill trying to breatheand find quiet moments to take in the glorya celebration is neari will be of good cheerlook after myselfand those who are near meso tired i feelyet grateful each dayfor the strength from withinand the faith which keeps me goingMERRY CHRISTMAS my friendsmay your days also be blessedwith strength, courage and joyplus the spirit of the season

"I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.

Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in darkness, could we but see. And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you.

Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me, that angel's hand is there. The gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Your joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it; that is all! But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country home." Fra Giovanni, 1513

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

this is a post i wrote weeks ago. since then much has changed. there has been very little time to create. someday i will get back to it with a renewed energy. for now i will share this.

rolling through these days trying to get some sense of Christmas approaching ~ feeling discomfort at times.

and so I continue to create.

to this stage in time there was very little creating with this piece. I had acquired the original very dark pastel creation probably from my daughter. I believe she got it many years ago from a visiting pastel artist at her school. I had found it rolled up in the basement in a piece of craft paper. hastily one evening as I was preparing for a visitor I hung it on a wall in one of my basement creative spaces. then I realized how dark the piece was, how very abstract. not really what I wanted hanging on my walls. besides, there were so many possibilities. and so I began. the above pictured is with a number of layers of white chalk added.

another evening I chose to grab a piece of charcoal and sketch this face. the portrait was created using a reference from Misty Mawn's Open Studioclass. I find my art being greatly influenced by her teachings even after eleven months. truly I have not had nearly as much time in this past year to be creating as what I had hoped. but the lessons will remain with me. and a great dream I have would be to one day participate in Misty's class in Orvieto. a dream ~ but I do believe that dreams can come true. as a dear friend strongly believes "If you can dream it ~ you can do it." Walt Disney

so with pieces of charcoal flying as the piece was hung on the wall ~ the lovely lady appeared.

I gave the piece more depth and feeling with darker lines. now she appears on my wall, yet another piece totally inspired by Misty, but with very much my own twist.

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"To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk being called sentimental. To reach out to another is to risk involvement. To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self. To place your ideas and your dreams before them is to risk being called naive. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair, and to try is to risk failure.But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing and becomes nothing. He [or she] may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live. Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave, he's forfeited his freedom. Only the person who risks is truly free."